Sunday, January 9, 2011

Love at First FlightIn perhaps the largest land transaction beyond Bandra, a seven-acre plot in Andheri (East) was sold for around Rs 800 crore last week. The 30,000 sq m (approx 3,23,000 sq ft) Popular Car Bazar on Andheri- Kurla Road, owned by Mumbai- based real estate company HDIL, sold it to the Kanakia Group a few days after Christmas last month.

The land once belonged to the Thakur family, which sold it to HDIL two years ago for over Rs 400 crore. It was earlier used as a garage. Today, about 20% of the plot is covered by slums. Kanakia is likely to get about seven lakh sq ft to develop here. Sources say the Kanakia Group already has a large commercial project adjoining Popular Car Bazar, and it made sense to take it over.

The Kanakias own the Mariott Courtyard hotel in the vicinity. The new plot they have acquired is also along the upcoming metro line. The group plans to set up a new commercial project. Commercial rates in this area are around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per sq ft. Property experts described this as the largest land deal in the distant suburbs in recent times. The city witnessed several big land transactions last year, but most were either in the island city or up to Bandra.

In April 2009, city-based developer Wadhwa Group paid a little over Rs 1,000 crore to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to develop a 2.5-acre plot (C-66) in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). RIL had purchased the plot for Rs 918 crore through a bidding process in 2007. Early in 2010, the Wadhwa Group had paid Rs 570 crore for the 18-acre Hindustan Composites land in Ghatkopar. A six-acre government plot in Wadala also fetched the highest bid of Rs 4,053 crore from the Lodha Group last year, an all-India record reaffirming Mumbai’s no. 1 position in the property market.